When An Artist Transcends The Material (A Covers Thread - Sort Of)

Country Nirvana.

Glen Hansard has a special way with covers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EPZQunlky0

Oh man how could I forget this one, discovered through Just Cause 3

There have been several covers of this song. I happen to really like this one. Possibly NSFW.

Edit: Clarification. No so much the video, but the song itself.

I saw the thread title and was about to post this. I saw her perform it live and it gave me goosebumps. I still get shivers listening to it.

And here’s my contribution:

Which surpasses their fellow Canadian’s original:

I think this has to be #1 on my list:

Followed maybe by:

And if we’ll allow classical music…

And as much as I love Nick Cave, I think this might be the better version of Loverman:

Nothing will ever top Thin Lizzy’s version, however yeah Metallica’s “Whiskey In The Jar” is a very nice rendition that I really enjoy. I like that they stayed faithful to the original while at the same time making it much harder-edged and making that version entirely their own. Much like they did with Blue Oyster Cult’s “Astronomy”.

And damn it, I’m sorry. I just noticed that I posted this without following the guideline of the OP. Instead, I posted following the apparent trend of the thread itself, and got caught up in great covers of already good or great songs. I’ll try to think of a less-than stellar tune that got a great cover, but for now, I’m afraid I got nothing. That stipulation makes this much more difficult, but I’m sure I can come up with something.

Whoops. Yep, I’m totally guilty of posting without having really read the original post in the thread.

Yeah Husker Du was great with the covers, arguably a decent song originally, but their cover of Eight Miles High is IMO one of the all time great covers as well.

I always enjoy the covers that come out of the industrial projects in Al Jourgensen’s orbit, but this was probably one of the better ones. The tweaks to Rod Stewart’s lyrics also vastly improve the storytelling.

Ironically, I did not remember that cover.

Yeah. I purchased Garage. Astronomy is the song right before Whiskey in the Jar. Another great cover.

This is how you take a pop song and make it completely awesome!

I give you Tim Akers and The Smoking Section with Uptown Funk.

Oh shit.

Ben Watt is best known as the male half of the duo Everything But The Girl, and as Tracey Thorn’s hubby.

Bernard Butler is simply a rock golden god. Guitarist in Suede, collaborations with David McAlmont, Duffy, The Tears, Tricky, and producing all of the above plus also folks like the Libertines, Bert Jansch, etc.

So yeah, here you go.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nuu33TOdJPg

Now that’s in the spirit of the thread! Very cool.

That AV Club cover song list is very cool. Be sure to check out GWAR covering Carry on my Wayward Son. Nothing amazing, but a fun diversion.

They’ve been on AV Club a few times, I think when they did Pet Shop Boys West End Girls was more moving as they transitioned into Jim Carrolls’s People who Died as a tribute to Oderus Urungus.

http://www.avclub.com/video/gwar-covers-pet-shop-boys-211000

That was shockingly moving. Thanks for posting that.